We want our services to be relevant, useful and easy to access.
So, whether you want to move home, pay your rent, or report a delay in grass cutting – this should be quick and easy and we should respond in good time.
Our new website will help, with new forms for reporting issues online as well as contacting us when you see us in your neighbourhood or by phone.
Our Customer Charter
Customers tell us view of what matters most in how we work with you and this is summarised in our Customer Charter.
We will:
- treat you courteously and ‘go that extra mile’ if you are in difficult circumstances
- keep your information confidential, but make sure we have up-to-date records about your recent contact with us when you call or visit
- deal with correspondence (emails as well as letters), and complaints as quickly as possible to regain the trust of our residents
- make sure we have access to translators, interpreters and sign language experts
- explain how we meet the regulator’s consumer standards – e.g. letting our homes, undertaking repairs, or keeping neighbourhoods clean and safe. We know these things matter
- involve residents in all aspects of our business – from handling calls to joining the board, because we build homes and communities
In return we ask that you:
- look after your home and garden, paying rent promptly
- try to be considerate to neighbours
- communicate politely with staff at all times
The service standards timescales and what you can expect on individual transactions with us are set out in our customer charter.
Back to basics
Tenants tell us that it’s the basic things that matter – repairs, well-written letters, courtesy and accuracy, so we continue to keep our eye on these things, as well as new and exciting projects.
Customer services portfolio holders
We have two customer services portfolio holders, Carole Burchett and Valerie Edwards, who meet regularly with our director of customer services and operations to check our performance and look at ways of improving our service. This has resulted in a Saturday morning calls service, the out of hours rent payment line and our 'voice of the customer' project tracking what people are telling us as it happens. In 2014 we were shortlisted for customer care provider of the year by Housing24.
We have had Customer Services Excellence (CSE) Accreditationfor the past five years.
As a co-regulation champion Soha have been at the forefront of positioning tenants at the heart of their business. The assessor was however particularly impressed by the whole approach to co-regulation.… as the strategy has already contributed to the award of Compliance Plus status in previous reports… and far exceeds the basic regulatory requirements. - CSE Accreditation Report 2014
Performance and quality in call centres
We also joined a group of organisations improving call centres and received a Performance and Quality (P&Q) award.
We are one of the first housing associations use Voice Analytics to review calls by our customers and make sure we learn from those calls. We now also offer webchat in addition to a Saturday morning phone service.
